Mumbai Meri Jaan

Finally after a long hiatus from writing for various reasons (laziness being the biggest one) I have decided to start  writing again.
Bombay has got me to fall in love with it all over again in the past 4 days. Although I had a rough couple days when I landed.  The Humidity,  noise and the sheer number of people everywhere overwhelmed senses and made me think where the Bombay I lived in and loved had gone.
But as soon as I roomy NRI glasses off and began embracing my roots I began to see a certain energy a certain glue that keeps this city together.  Most people don't have much but are happy, content with what they have and willing to sacrifice a bit more to help a loved one or even a stranger.
The Chaos as first gave me the chills on how does one survive in a city this size with 21 million people and not get trampled at a crowded street or get lost in a grocery store, but then I noticed a rhythm in the chaos, a certain way the city and it's people are doing this exotic dance,  perfectly synchronized to each heartbeat of the 21 million citizens. From navigating a crowded sidewalk or zipping through bumper to bumper traffic on motorbikes or expensive cars everyone knows what to do, what your next move will be, which may seems foreign to anyone who hasn't lived here for a prolonged period of time.
As soon as I embraced the chaos and admitted to the reality that this is not going to be a western city ever, it will never be perfected because it is perfect in it's own way. It just needs a bit of cosmetic upgrade other than that the smiles,people and the spirit will take it through any situation

No other city in the world may capture my heart like Bombay has. Bombay I love you

Hurray to the Spirit of Bombay

Some Days Back I was on the bus (how "seldom" do i say that), i was about to get off at my bus stop when i saw a man run for the bus i was on, the bus stop was 500m from the place the man was running from, so he was gonna catch the bus while it got slow b4 the stop, but the bus was at full speed and u know the bus drivers the get some sadistic fun from making you run harder and faster for "their" buses for which we pay tax.

But when i got off the stop the man just got to the bus and then i thought it is a victory of the human spirit (philosophical but true)

how many times in bombay have you seen this kind of spirit among people, i see this every minute, eg who can forget the site of 1500-2000 ppl in the space of 200 in the 2nd class virar local compartment and ppl have accepted that way of life and are helping other ppl accept it too.

Every minute is a struggle to survive in this gr8 city created by god to test the limits of human persevearence. The lines or Q's as we call them everywhere, the dirty roads, ppl with bad body odour and breath, but do v seem to mind (ya!!!) but we;ve taken all of that and moved on. People come into the city by thousands each day but the city like a mother and the ppl like her kids accept the outsiders with a pinch of salt, ppl come here to become film stars (u crazy biharis), businessmen, fruit stall owners(thats wat the wannabe film stars end up becoming), gangsters, or rich(they r illiterate so its their main aim), but v accept them in watever size, shape, look or smell(most vital) they come in

so sallaam bombay oooooopsssss..... Mumbai.